General Van Borculo Info

Purpose

The Van BorculoFamiliesWebPage was created by David E. Bartlow, who has spent more than four decades researching the many associated surnames and their descending lines. Encouraged by many, the website's purpose is to provide a resource center for Van Borculo descendants who haven't, as yet, discovered their ancestral links. At the moment, it serves as an extension of it's true web host, Tom Burklow, of Mason,OH., a longtime correspondent of Dave's who graciously consented to include all Dave's web pages to his[Tom's] website he created to promote his own Burklow branch genealogy. Because they have matching goals for promoting Van Borculo genealogy in general, combining their efforts aims to serve both their goals as well as their prospects for success.

It should be mentioned Tom Burklow has also provided a Googlesearch engine on his Burklow Home Page capable of locating any reference to a surname of any variant spelling buried within our web pages.

Another major goal of this collaboration involves connecting with those who can provide new data and documents from their specific branch and personal research. Having discovered some erroneous connections within online databases, this collection is expected to help those who lack dates or names of spouses, parents,etc. Blanks, as prevalent as they are in many of the online databases, don't provide much help to someone trying to utilize those otherwise useful services.

As of April 1,2014, there are over 500 pages contained herein. Eighty-seven(87) of those pages list 2,100+ marriages, or 4,200+ names, all identified, listed and linked with their specific surname group. The intent was to separate them for everyone's general benefit, but that could also present a problem. For instance, a "Barklow" bride or groom may be listed with the "Bartlow" group because his or her known ancestor descended from Jacques/James Barkelow(1698-1780) of Hunterdon Co.,NJ. Researchers uncertain of ancestry may still need to check the other branch marriages, perhaps all five groups, just to be sure.

Yes, there are still specific categories to be filled, as this is an ongoing project, designed and HTML-coded completely by me from Microsoft Notepad, without the aid of webpage design software. It's simplicity reflects its purpose, as the entire set of pages occupies no more disk space than a couple scanned photographs.

A reminder- in genealogy, everything is challengeable until YOU, the researcher, obtain the corroborating document or evidence from the original source and/or other researchers who support the same findings. If it's your own specific line, make sure you ask me for the source. If you can offer a documented challenge to any marriage date or place listed, please do it as this website was not intended to be used as a direct source, with every fact accompanied by a footnoted reference. It's only purpose is to provide a quick and useful tool for Van Borculo branch researchers to connect with someone who can help bridge the guaranteed problems these difficult and highly alliterated lines create.

Representation

For those who aren't sure if their surname is among those represented at this website, the following list should cover most of the current or surviving variations which still appear in phone books and Social Security records. The five major branches are: Barkalow, Barricklow, Barkuloo, Burklow, and Bartlow, with additional variations being- Barklow, Barcalow, Barkeloo, Burkleo, Barricklo, Barcklow, Barcalo, Barclow, Burkelow, Barkelow, Burcalow, Barkulo, Van Burkleo, Vanburkleo, Van Burkalow, and a few others. In the 1880 census, for instance, Dave identified 1,441 persons bearing one of these surnames. But, because that total was fractured into three dozen spellings, our surnames are still rare and difficult to find in phonebooks, even within the largest U.S. cities.

It must be noted to those still fairly new to genealogy that our surnames, regardless of spelling, are all going to regress toward the same origin,"Borculo", with those phonetic variations crossing all major branch spellings, especially before 1840. A typical regression from "Bartlow", for instance, will devolve like this: Bartlow; Barklow; Barkelow; Barkeloo; van Borculo.

It took from 1660 until the 1840's, or over 180 years without public schools to "Anglicize" our "adopted" surname to the variant spelling of "Borculo" we actually use. Had our brethren immigrants chosen to identify themselves with the European surname their ancestors employed back in Holland, we'd all be variations of Lubberdinck today.

Brief Note on Origin

Borculo, a Dutch town near the border with Germany, is situated in Gelderland Province, Netherlands, and was incorporated in 1376. Tax lists begin in 1369 and original land records predate the Norman Conquest, going back as far as 979 A.D. Though our immigrant ancestors appear to have lived nearer Geesteren, a mile or so north of Borculo, the brothers chose to attach "Borculo" to their patronym, thus creating the surname and its American point of origin as well. The attachment of a surname was, at the time, antithetical to the patronymic naming protocol of the day for most Dutchmen and Scandinavians, and was the apparent product of a general order from Governor Peter Stuyvesant. It was issued just prior to the British takeover of New York in 1664. Up to that time, the tendency was, almost exclusively, to introduce one's self as "(Given name) + (father's given name)", the patronymic example being, "Harmen Jansen", or (Harmen,son of John).